A Twist on Rotini and Tomato Soup

A Twist on Rotini (get it?) and Tomato Soup 

Don’t get yourself all in a “spiral” over a quick and easy supper on a budget!  Instead consider the humble rotini.  It comes plain or tri-colored (spinach, tomato, other) and the good news is that it is always inexpensive to buy and to feed many people – or a few people many times!  You can “beef” this up with some hamburger meat if you want, or Italian sausage, or even chicken.  Makes it more of a meal with meat in it.  You can also do a cream-of by adding heavy cream at the end of the cooking.  The cream adds fat and while fat adds fat, it also adds flavor!  This is not a perfect world.  But it is going to taste like the perfect world we are going to see one day. 

To a pot (I did mine in an Instant pot, but you can use any stovetop pot), add 4-6 cups of chicken broth.  I actually used 6 cups of water and added 8 chicken bouillon cubes.  Then add 4-6 cups of tomato juice. Once again I got off the paved road and used a big bottle of V-8.  Add at least one can of diced tomatoes – want it chunkier?  Add more than one can!  To that add some dried basil leaves, salt, pepper, and either garlic powder or minced garlic.  

In a small skillet, add about ¼ stick butter, finely chopped onions, carrots, and celery.  Sauté those until the onions become translucent.  If you skip doing this your onions and celery will float and it will embarrass both of us.  

Get a big pot of salted water to a rolling boil, pour in some olive (or other type) oil.  This keeps pasta from sticking together.  To that boiling water add a whole bag of rotini.  Cook it about 7 minutes and then take it off heat.  Pour through a colander, then dump all the cooked pasta into the pot with the tomato soup.  

Yep, that’s it.  I do like the creamy version so I add heavy cream at the end and garnish with Parmesan cheese.  You can freeze this soup if you do not add cream.  Freezers and milk-based products cooked into a dish are not good friends.  

Come on - join the crowd and DO THE TWIST!  Shares well.  Tastes better if you give some to others.  I cannot know all those who need this soup - but you do.  The beauty of shared-cooking is shared-eating.  Be safe, eat hearty, and step up to God’s blessings.